Federal Science and Technology: The Pursuit of Excellence - Appendix

Health Canada

Health Canada (HC) performs high-quality research, surveillance and other science activities to help Canadians maintain and improve their health. Scientific information is necessary to support policy development; to regulate increasingly sophisticated products; and to provide the services, information, and management essential to affordable and world-class health care.

The department conducts, funds and uses science to address a range of issues. In the past year, HC faced urgent challenges, such as SARS, BSE (or “mad cow disease”) and the West Nile Virus. Internal scientific capacity is necessary to anticipate and respond to emerging challenges such as these, and to support ongoing regulatory activities and programs.

HC has recognized science-based challenges in its Corporate Risk Profile, and has developed a framework to strengthen science planning, evaluation, and reporting. The HC Framework for Science and the Framework for Federal Science and Technology are both based on the same principles — namely, that its science be aligned with its priorities, that it capitalize on the best expertise through collaboration, that it demonstrate excellence and innovation, and that it reflect Canadians’ expectations of sound management and stewardship.

Since 2002, when the Executive Committee approved the Health Canada Framework for Science, HC has amassed an inventory of current science activities, and a self-assessment of these activities against Framework principles. The department is using the inventory to evaluate current activities and gaps, and to support reporting and planning. There is improved understanding within HC of the expertise and evidence base that the department can bring to emerging issues and national research collaborations.

The following paragraphs describe recent HC accomplishments that support the enablers of effective science in the Framework for Federal Science and Technology: people, leadership, engagement with stakeholders and citizens, and infrastructure.

People

• In November 2003, the Office of the Chief Scientist organized the second HC research forum: From Science to Policy. All HC scientists had an opportunity to showcase their work and pursue collaborative opportunities with colleagues and stakeholders.
  
  
• The BI/CH Development Program is a strategy to improve the recruitment and development of biologists (BI) and chemists (CH) to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). The program offers recruits structured learning and a process for promotion within the Agency.
  
  
• HC’s Workplace Health and Human Resources Modernization Action Plan includes linking strategic planning for S&T personnel and business objectives, and a National Recruitment Strategy targeting Francophones and S&T.

Leadership

• To support the fight against SARS, HC hosted a workshop of international regulatory scientists, SARS experts and manufacturers. Participants identified key issues for regulating the clinical testing and licensing of future SARS vaccines and immunotherapy products. This Canadian perspective contributed to the World Health Organization conference on SARS in October 2003.
  
  
• In November 2003, HC issued a framework for coordinated action by the public health community, called Preparedness and Response to the Respiratory Infections Season and the Possible Re-emergence of SARS. HC’s investigations of SARS transmission to health care workers contributed to infection-control guidelines, which are applied at the regional and local levels. A blood deferral policy for SARS resulted from a scientific review and assessment of risks to the blood system.
  
  
• HC and CIHR cosponsored the first multisectoral workshop on suicide-related research in Canada. Participants established themes to guide Canadian suicide research, and identified Aboriginal communities as a priority. HC is collaborating with CIHR on a call for proposals, and with the Canadian Population Health Initiative to explore why suicide rates are high in some First Nations communities.
  
  
• HC and provincial governments convened a National Roundtable on Physical Activity Research in March 2003. The result was a prioritized research agenda to guide initiatives that are linked across jurisdictions.
  
  
• In April 2003, HC launched the Natural Health Product Research Program to support its role as product regulator and to address research priorities identified by stakeholders. Projects are supported either through grants in partnership with CIHR (e.g. clinical trials), contracts (e.g. research on good practices), or contributions made by providing seed funding for the development of proposals.
  
  
• The Product Safety Programme took the lead in developing the 2003 Canadian Standards Association guideline Noise Emission Declarations for Machinery. The Programme also contributes to noise standards of the International Organization for Standardization.
  
  
• The HC Research Ethics Board ensures the ethical conduct of HC research involving human participants. In its first year, the Board reviewed and provided guidance on 64 research applications. HC also funded education programs by the National Council on Ethics in Human Research, to support the ethical conduct of research involving humans among the wider research community.

Engagement

• HC works with the Assembly of First Nations, supporting community-based participatory research on environmental health risks. Federal budget 2003 included $4.1 million for research on water-borne diseases and contaminants in First Nations communities. Additional funds will support community-based drinking water quality monitors and environmental health officers.
  
  
• The PMRA, the provinces and the AAFC are evaluating indicator models for measuring risks of agricultural pesticide use in Canada. A risk indicator will enable stakeholders and the PMRA to assess pesticide risk reduction for a variety of needs.
  
  
• Fungal Contamination in Public Buildings: Health Effects and Investigation Methods provides guidance to public health inspectors and industrial hygienists who manage the health risks of mould growth in public buildings. HC completed this document in consultation with external experts and provincial representatives.
  
  
• HC and provincial and community stakeholders have correlated the patterns of chronic disease and mental health to poverty and exclusion, in the report Inequity and Disease in Atlantic Canada. Documents on the cost of chronic disease, which will report the incidence, cost and impact of disease for each Atlantic province, will be completed in 2004 (Nova Scotia’s was completed in 2002).
  
  
• HC coordinated a multijurisdictional program of surveillance, analytical research, risk assessment and communications on the West Nile Virus.
  
  
• HC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for efficient scientific evaluation of therapeutic products. HC collaborates with other regulatory organizations on joint reviews, and to share information on test methods and risks associated with new substances and marketed products.
  
  
• HC and provincial environment ministries released From Source to Tap: Guidance on the Multi-barrier Approach to Safe Drinking Water. It provides guidance on how to apply total quality management to systems for producing and distributing safe drinking water.
  
  
• The National Microbiological Laboratory determined a critical DNA sequence of the only non-imported case of BSE in Canada. It supported the CFIA’s investigation of the case as one acquired through infectious transmission rather than by spontaneous mutation in the affected animal.
  
  
• Through extensive consultations over many years, HC has developed policies for proposed legislation that would protect Canadians using assisted human reproduction techniques, prohibit unacceptable practices such as human cloning, and regulate research involving in vitro human embryos.

Infrastructure

• HC invested in the Statistical Profile on the Health of First Nations in Canada. It is one of several initiatives to improve First Nations and Inuit health information for decision making on health care policy, program development, and costs.
  
  
• HC, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, and other partners are sponsoring the Canadian Addiction Survey of 10 000 Canadians in early 2004. Updated information about alcohol and drug issues will benefit the renewed Canada’s Drug Strategy.
  
  
• The Inspectorate’s Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory in Longueuil, Quebec, along with the University of Montreal Chemistry Department, has developed reliable methods to detect active ingredients and contaminants in drugs and natural health products using capillary electrophoresis technology.
  
  
• HC has developed a world-class research infrastructure and capacity in biotechnology, genomics and proteomics. Laboratory platforms for the manufacture and high-through-put analysis of DNA micro-arrays and for proteomics research have been assembled, and a skilled scientific staff employed. With national and international collaborators, projects are underway to develop biotechnology-based assays for regulatory assessment of human risks, including new assays for gene mutations and tumour promotion.
  
  
• HC is phasing in eReview, which will provide a stable electronic environment for accepting and reviewing drug and health product submissions. The Canadian electronic Common Technical Document was posted for comment in preparation for electronic submissions in 2004.
  
  
• The Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network, including HC, established PulseNet Canada to quickly detect outbreaks of enteric pathogens, so that contaminated food can be recalled. The electronic network enables the rapid exchange of bacterial fingerprints and other surveillance information.

Contact Information
Office of the Chief Scientist
Health Canada
Tel.: (613) 952-8706
Web site: www.hc-sc.gc.ca